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IDIITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT J. MANN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, Assioma To LEWIS L OSBORN AND ISAAC J. VINCENT,

METHOD 0F MANUFACTURING SKELETON SKIR'IS.

Speccaton of Letters Patent No. 31,932, dated April 2, 1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, ROBERT J. MANN, o-f Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Method of Manufacturing Ladies I-Ioop- Skirts, and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in y Figure l represents a side elevation of a skirt upon the former, Fig. 2 is a plan of the same, Fig. 3 represents a vertical section through the former at the line w of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 represents a horizontal section of the former at the line a: of Fig. 1, and Figs. 5 and 6 represent views, corresponding with Figs. 3 and 4, of a former havin appliances for holding the hoops differing in construction from those represented in Figs. l, 2, 3 and 4.

Skeleton skirts are composed mainly of a series of hoops and a series of tapes, or appliances by which the hoops are suspended from the waistband; and 1n order that the skirt may be symmetrical, the hoops must be connected with the tapes at certain definite distances from the waistband, and the tapes must be secured to the hoops at certain definite distances from each other.

Previous to my invention it was customary to manufacture skeleton skirts by laying the tapes upon a table and by making marks upon them at the places where they were to be crossed by the hoops, the hoops were also marked at the places where they were to be crossed by the tapes, after which t-he hoops and tapes were connected together by sewing or some other suitable means.

' Thisrnode .of manufacture required the eX- penditure of considerable labor and time in the marking, even when skirts projecting equally from all sides of the body of the wearer were made; when however skirts with hoops eccentric to the body of the wearer came to be manufactured the time and labor required to effect the marking was greatly increased, as each hoop of such skirts crosses the series of tapes at different distances from the waistband, the opposite two tapes at each side of the body only being marked alike, so that as many different markings were necessary as there were pairs of tapes in the skirt.

The obj ect of my invention is to avoid the marking, and at the same time to afford a convenient means for supporting the hoops at the time the connection between the hoops and tapes is being effected, and it consists in applying the tapes to the hoops while the members of each series are supported in the relative positions which they are to occupy with respect to the other members of both' series in the finished skirt.

In order to practice my invention a frame or former such as is represented in the annexed drawings of the size and shape of the finished skirt is procured. Such a frame is most convenient when formed with a waist block A, and with a series of ribs B, B, B, whose profiles are substantially the same as those of the tapes in the finished skirt, and which are equal in number with the number of tapes to be employed, and coincide with them in the positions which they are to occupy. The ribs are fitted with appliances to sustain the hoops in the same relative positions with respect to each other and to the tapes which they are to occupy in the finished skirt. These appliances may be formed in various ways; in the former represented at Figs. l, 2, 3, and 4, the appliances for sustaining the hoops consists each of a hinged staple e, whose horns can be turned outward to sustain the hoops between them, and can be turned inward to release the hoo when the skirt is to be removed from the former. In the former represented at Figs. 5 and 6, the appliances consist of a series` of notches formed in a plate c which can be drawn inward by the operation of a treadle D; this form of constructing the appliances is convenient as all the plates may be connected with the same treadle, so that a single movement of the foot of the operator is sufficient lto release all the hoops of the entire skirt. I/Vhatever be the construction of the frame and the appliances, there should be a sufficient number of the latter to hold the hoops in their places. In making a skirt with such a former the hoops are first placed upon the former and are held in their posiw tions by the appliances, the waistband with the tapes depending from it is then applied to the waistblock A, and the separate tapes are spread over the hoops so as to cover the ribs of the frame, the connection between the hoops and tapes is then made in any suitable manner, that which I prefer is to effect thel and tapes by means of a forceps or pliers of suitable form, and in order to facilitate such application the ribs of the frame are grooved as represented in Figs. t and 6 to permit the bending of the lip or teeth of the clasp. After the connection of the hoops and skirts is made the hoops are released from the appliances which hold them, the waistband is released from the waistblock, and the skirt is lifted from the frame. If from the mode of connection used it is found expedient to effect the connection on the former but partially, this operation may be completed in any suitable manner after the skirt is removed from the former.

By the method of forming skirts above described the labor of marking the tapes and hoops is dispensed with and the frame supports the hoops and tapes in convenient positions for the connection of the two. By it moreover a symmetrical form in the skirt and the uniformity of the size and shape of a multitude of skirts made by different operl atives is insured.

It is of course necessary to provide a forlner for each shape of skirt, but the same former will answer for skirts of the same shape with different numbers of hoops.

Having thus described my invention it is proper to state that it is not confined to any peculiar construction of the former or of the appliances for sustaining and releasing, the hoops or for sustaining the tapes.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The method of forming hoop skirts by applying the hoops and tapes or their equivalents to each other while they are supported in the relative positions which they are to occupy in the finished skirt substantially as -L herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

ROBERT J. MANN. 

